Christin Weikel feels blessed that she has two beautiful children. The bubbly young mom glows as she talks about her 13-year-old daughter, Sam, who looks a lot like her; and her 9-year-old son, Anthony, an energetic little boy full of laughter.

She loves her children and being a mom, but a little piece of the 30-year-old Lansford woman is missing.Weikel will never again be able to conceive a child as a result of a decision that her then-doctor convinced her to make nine years ago.That choice still haunts her today, three years after she had to have an emergency hysterectomy to save her life.Weikel is one of thousands of women who have experienced devastating complications from Essure and are currently embroiled in a legal battle with the product's maker to get it taken off the market.Essure is a permanent contraceptive inserted into a woman's fallopian tubes and is a nonsurgical option to sterilization.On Feb. 28, the Food and Drug Administration issued a requirement to Bayer, the manufacturer of Essure, that, as a result of thousands of complaints, the company must include a boxed warning, the strongest step it takes without recalling a product, listing the possible adverse reactions.Complications have included perforation of the uterus or fallopian tubes, intra-abdominal or pelvic device migration, persistent pain and allergy or hypersensitivity reactions.The FDA also ordered the company to conduct a post-market surveillance study about the benefits and risks of the product.Weikel feels the FDA's decision to not remove the product from the market doesn't go far enough."I lost my womanhood at 27 because my safety wasn't thought of first," she said. "The company has been covering up lies for way too long. I'm still trying to pick up the pieces from this."The right choice?Weikel's nightmare began in Mississippi in 2007.Following a complicated pregnancy with her son, as well as her lifelong battle with Type 1 diabetes, Weikel was strongly urged by her doctor to not have additional children even though she was only 21. He recommended Essure as his choice for a sterilization method."I trusted him and went along with it," she said, adding that her doctor told her that Essure was a safe contraceptive implant that required no incisions or recovery time.The product is two small nickel-titanium coils that would allow a person's tissue to grow around it, sealing off the tubes."From day one, my life was never the same."Abdominal pain, large blood clots, near hemorrhaging periods, weight gain, unexplained rashes, heart palpitations and chronic fatigue plagued the young mother of two in the weeks, months and years that followed the procedure.She missed work due to the pain and excessive bleeding, lost her job, felt helpless as a mother and hopeless when no medical professional believed that something was terribly wrong.In 2010, Weikel found out she was pregnant."This shocked me because I was told with Essure you could never become pregnant," she said.She lost the baby shortly after.Following her miscarriage, Weikel began researching her symptoms and found that the nightmare she was living in was not just her own.As she searched, hundreds and then thousands of stories similar to hers appeared, all with one common factor: Essure.Losing a part of yourselfTwo years later, while living in Lansford with her sisters and children, Weikel was rushed to the ER after her pain became unbearable and the bleeding worsened.At first, the ER staff didn't know what the cause could be, but the young woman begged for an ultrasound to check the implants.A few minutes later, Weikel's yearslong plea was finally heard. The results of the ultrasound showed that the coils had migrated from her fallopian tubes and were puncturing her uterus."Part of me felt relieved at first that finally someone listened to me," she said. "I found a doctor who not only listened to me, but didn't think I was nuts."But then just as quickly as that relief came, fear set in."At the age of 27, I had to have a hysterectomy."The surgery revealed extensive damage to Weikel's reproductive organs as a result of the device, as well as confirmed her suspicions that the nickel in the coils, which she is allergic to, was the root of some of the internal issues she had experienced.Following the procedure, depression set in as Weikel's maternal desire for more children grew."I'm blessed to have two wonderful kids but part of me always wanted more," she said. "I let one doctor convince me to have this done, and now I will never be able to have more."Today, Weikel is thankful for the doctor who saved her, and that life for her family has returned to a type of normalcy.But her battle is far from over.She now hopes to educate women on the possible dangers of Essure."I want this device off the market before more women die or get hurt from it."